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Generally yes they will only call you if there is something wrong. Family docs / NPs have too many patients and tests to call everyone with normal results in most cases. A few things are weird about your case though.
While I'm sure stuff like this happens often, ideally it isn't supposed to. You should call your NP and schedule a follow up yourself.
Yes, I’ve wondered this in the past and that is my experience: they’ll only contact you if a test indicates a problem or they need you to come back. I suppose they figure it’s needless time and expense to call and say “oh, everything is fine”.
I’ve had doctors miss important results though (a positive celiac blood test!), so it’s always good to check with them if you don’t hear anything. You can get most everything from their websites and apps these days though.
Yeah, you always think of the negative stories you've heard. For example, my accountant's husband had an operation and the surgeon didn't do a follow-up with him and he passed away from a blood clot. The widow feels that if the surgeon had done better follow-up care he could have sought help and lived. I guess I just want that reassurance that I'm being looked after and not just another number in a health care system.
I also recognize it could be a time sink to call and say "hey everything's fine" but it sure would make me feel better/appreciated as a human being.
In island health, test results with comments are often available right from the app. X-ray images right there, too. A friend of mine had her shoulder images with comments within 24 hours when she was checking (for a prescription, but noticed the new images).
They're killing that as they harmonize everyone's experience down to Frasier levels, I hear, which is almost the stone age.
I'd say that's the case in my experience anyways. No news is good news.
When I had a family doctor he was making sure to tell the results over a follow-up appointment, good or bad, I really liked his empathy. I wish this was the standard..
This is what every doctor I've seen (in multiple provinces) has done for decades.
They used to tell me they'd only call if there were issues, but most don't say anything anymore because it's common practice.
Yup, Canadian healthcare is a disaster, only second to the US system.
Facts put Canada as 5th best in the world, behind Sweden, Denmark and some of those neighbors.
5th. I know! Bizarre! I had occasion to look it up when my swedish friends were complaining about their healthcare (3rd best globally).
We're not second only to America, but there's a massive difference. We're not awesome and we need to get better, but our system could be so, so much worse. We lost a lot of doctors during COVID, and I don't blame them because we couldn't do the bare minimum as a society, but it's going to be a long while before staffing levels are back up.
You say that like politicians are doing anything to bring staffing levels back up.
Yes, looks like a standard practice in QC too. You can pass all kind of tests and... hear nothing...